//------------------------------// // 05: A Deathly Meeting // Story: The Drakon // by Azrael the alicorn //------------------------------// Noir had flew far away from the ponies and the two cities, searching for an isolated place where he could think in peace and more important stuff. He landed on the edge of the Ever Free Forest, making sure that there wasn’t anyone in the nearby. There he started to gather information. Using his powers over the darkness he could see pretty much everywhere. From the smaller shadow to the endless black canvas were the stars rested called space. If he had to stay in this world for so long he had to be informed about the many things it that happened, so to avoid any possible surprises and to know better how to understand the ponies here. And soon enough he knew everything: past, present and even some glimpse of the future. It was a lot of information, though, so he founded himself to take it slow and study every bit. When he had concluded his work the sun was almost set and the skies started to get dark showing slowly the starred heaven. That done Noir started to think about his clash with the ponies. What he had said to the purple alicorn wasn’t a lie; they would indeed meet again soon enough. He needed to study those six closely, to have a better picture of the tons of info he had just got. Then he thought about Princess Luna. Despite Luna wanting to take time to make her choice Noir could sense that the possibilities were in his favor. More than choosing this time was probably needed for her to shake off the doubts that were troubling her. And then there was Celestia. Noir wasn’t a fan of her to say the least. But despite his spite for her, the dark dragon couldn’t help but understand the reason behind her actions. For how much it hurt him to admit it, he could respect her for having tried to protect her sister from what she thought of a threat and, now that he had learned more about the princess went through. In a way he respected her. As much he could respect a racist being of light who thought to be so much purer than darkness. Ezio caws distracted his thoughts. “Really? How can you be starving if all you did was sit on my back or on the branches of the trees?” asked Noir, slightly annoyed by his cohort. “This fights (if I can call them that way) were so boring that right now I’m not even hungry”. The raven cawed again, making the dragon give up, “Fine, I know that you’re way too much stubborn anyway. Let’s go take a look to what can we eat”. Ezio cawed again, confused, “Hey, if I have to take food for you I want to have a piece too!”. With his powers it didn’t took long for the odd duo to find their meals: a small group of creatures that reminded him of the cockatrices in his world, although they were much more smaller and cute looking. The cockatrices tried to use their petrifying stares on both Noir and Ezio, failing miserably. The dragon attack worked much better, roasting those chicken freaks with a more typical dark red flame. Given the size they were barely considered snacks for Noir, but enough for the glutton raven. While he was busy chewing it’s small meal (leaving Ezio the bigger part of them) Noir could feel a presence nearby. Whoever was spying right was much better at acting stealthy than Discord could, but it’s secrecy was ruined by the aura surrounding him it. An aura that he was familiar with… “This is unexpected” commented the dragon while smiling thrilled, “But quite welcomed. Although I wonder what I’ve done to deserve your visit”. “You know the reason of my presence here, Avatar of Darkness. Your arrival is quite hard to ignore and I had to keep an eye on you to be sure that you would not mess with the Balance” said a deep and gruff voice, followed by a sudden purple flash of light few dozens of meters from the dragon and raven buffet. A figure had appeared, an alicorn. It stood much taller than Celestia, his built much stronger looking yet slim, his wings skeleton like, while a mask that reminded a skull covered his muzzle. “Your words hurt me, Death, you should know that I’m not that kind of person” replied overdramatic Noir, all but intimidated by the abstract. “It’s not what I’ve heard from the others abstracts” countered the grim reaper, patient. “Well, what can I do about it? Since when I’ve find out about this kind of power I couldn’t help but to put it at use. I’m curious”. “Curiosity killed the cat, do you know that?” reminded Death, more with sarcasm that malevolence, and before the dragon could reply he added, “And you going around in the Omni verse wouldn’t be so bad if you just avoided interfering with the creatures living there. Not to mention when you start fighting with them”. “In my defense I can say that a good portion of those fights were not started by me”. “Right” commented the Grim Reaper, for then deciding to get to the point, “Despite you’re not so perfect past when dealing with travelling into other worlds and your… behavior with other forms of life, I know that you will do your best to not mess things up because the importance of your mission”. “So, Obscuritas let you know about my task?” asked Noir, surprised. “Of course it did. Elementals and abstracts must be in good terms so that they can make keep the Balance safe”. “Well then, if you have so much trust in me then why are you here?”. “Because I wanted to meet you and exchange few words. And because I’m sure that if you would ever find out that I was looking at you without your approval you could get a bit cranky about it… to say the least”. At that Noir couldn’t help but laugh, “Oh, is the Grim Reaper afraid that the big bad Avatar of Darkness would kick his flank if he had an excuse?” he asked mockingly, as if he was talking to a child. Death raised an eyebrow, “No. Is just that a fight between the two of us would cause only trouble to the Balance”. “That… and the fact that you think you would beat me” added the dragon, a bit sharply “And don’t try to deny it, Death, cause for all the mystical and scary stuff that people says about you Grim Reapers you are not that above of the sentient life when it comes to reasoning and emotions. You may be the aspect of Humbleness of Death, but that doesn’t mean that inside of you there is, for how much small, a part of you who isn’t ashamed of the power it wields”. The pale alicorn remained quiet for few seconds, taken aback from the words of the Avatar of Darkness. Then he nodded. “I guess that you’re right”, admitted, “And I must say that I’m astonished of you ability to read in a Grim Reaper conscience”. “Yeah, I’m proud of that myself. Not that is the only thing I’ve figured out about you”. “Oh really?”. “Yes, really. I know that you’re quite fond of the ponies. And yet you didn’t had any issues with me blasting them down?”. “No. Because I knew that you didn’t wanted to harm them… and because they need it” he explained turning his attention in direction of where the fight had took place, “Sadly in this and many others alternatives Equestria the situation has gone… unbalanced. The Bearers of the Elements of Harmony have gathered to much power and any being who tries to take its place as a natural opposite force is either defeated and imprisoned, killed or reformed in an short amount of time even for mortal standards. For this I and others had to get involved, manipulating the forces of evil to be resurrected and even allowing outsiders to remind them that there are other powers outside of Harmony. I don’t like that in the least, but is the only way to preserve the Balance” the pale alicorn stopped noticing the scowl that the dragon was giving him. “So… in a way you were using me” muttered Noir, his words so cold that managed to get the abstract to feel a bit of chill on his back. “Sort of” said coolly the Grim Reaper, hoping to calm him down. It didn’t work, as the Avatar of Darkness stomped on the ground with one paw and got face to face with the alicorn of death. “You should know that I don’t like to be used, Death. I’m not like your errand boy that you have adopted! I am the Avatar of Darkness and I don’t take orders from anyone! I obey to Obscuritas because she deserve better than the lot of morons who claims to be her servants or stuff like that. Don’t you ever forget about that because, always unlike that child, I am not one who forgive those who plot behind my back! Did I make myself clear?” roared the dragon, while giving Death a… well… death glare, that the pale alicorn managed to stand his ground, staring back with a strong yet calm glare. Avatar and abstract stood there for one long minute filled with tension that it almost made it look as if the existence itself was holding its breath, hoping that this two beings would not clash into a fight that would have certainly doomed it. Ezio didn’t seemed to give a damn about it. Maybe because he knew better. Maybe because he only cared about eating. “Transparently” replied at last the grim reaper, “Although I think you’re taking this way too much serious. Like I’ve said, using you is not the right term”. “Yeah right” said Noir with much less anger while backing off from the abstract, “I should expect you to use words to use words to get out from this situation”. The Avatar of Darkness was rather disappointed of how the abstract refused to be start a fight even if someone offended his adopted son. He truly wished the two could have a nice fight to test their limits… if they had that. “Anyway” continued Death, “I would beg you to not offend Azrael. If you can really read into my spirit then you should know that I don’t consider him a servant, but a son”. “Fine then, if that is important to you” agreed the dragon, “Is this all you had to say to me?”. “No. I wanted to tell you to not be too harsh on Celestia. She may be antagonistic towards you but, compared to what she has done in the other universes, she’s harmless”. “I can’t make any promises”. “You tend to forget that not all the beings of light are spiteful towards. You know that”. “I guess” had to agree Noir, who couldn’t help but smile a little thinking about those two back in his own world… especially her. “Another thing. During your time here you may see things that could… tick you off for how silly if not downright stupid they are. Please try to not get upset from it and harm the people here”. “Eh, I couldn’t do it even if I wanted. I doubt that Luna will ever trust me if I brought some real pain to those close to her”. “You would guess right. And about that I want to wish your objective to be fulfilled, both here and in the other worlds you will visit” said Death with sincere tone, “It’s about time that Darkness is saw in a different…” “Light?”. “Way. I was about to say way”. “Right” commented Noir with a sly smirk, “I appreciate your words, Death” admitted the dark dragon. “I know. Now I have to leave. It seems that an alternative Princess Celestia had done the insane thing to keep for herself another of those damned magic portals”. “What would that thing be?” asked Noir, confused. “Pray to never find out, Avatar of Darkness, for the good of your mind”. With that said Death left, vanishing like a phantom. “Well, that sound swell, am I right Ezio?”. As for answer, the raven burped. “I couldn’t say that better”.